is it possible to have an actice pickup and a passive pickup in one guitar?
assuming there are two pickup cavities, then i don't know why not. i don't know why you'd want to do that, or how it'd sound.
Have a look around these boards. I'm pretty sure that if you can think of any guitar mod, it's been done or could be done.
As to how it'd sound...my guess is not good but you never know.
"How could you possibly be scared of being bad? Once you get past that, it's all beautiful." -Trey Anastasio
I would think so but the wiring could get a little complicated, I would think that each pickup would each need it's own separate circuit and also some sort of two circuit switch. I know that Switchcraft makes a switch that would work and you could also incorporate stacked pots for control also.
What kind of pickups and guitar are you thinking of?
When I die, I want to go peacefully in my sleep like my grandfather, not screaming......
like the passengers in his car.
My boy's 8 string bass is both active and passive. It has a push pull switch on one of the pots. It works but sounds like crap passive. I do think it would be a good backup in case your battery started fading in the middle of a set though.
"Work hard, rock hard, eat hard, sleep hard,
grow big, wear glasses if you need 'em."
-- The Webb Wilder Credo --
The new Carvin catalog shows some guitars with active and passive pickups.
Well we all shine on--like the moon and the stars and the sun.
-- John Lennon
I think you'll run into problems... maybe not insurmountable ones, but problems.
Active pickups came about because guitarists wanted 'hotter' pickups with a stronger signal. Pickups generate a signal when a string vibrates inside a magnetic field - so the way you get a stronger signal is to use a stronger magnet.
But using stronger magnets causes a problem - the magnetic field puts drag on the metal string, slowing it down. The stronger the magnet, the hotter the signal... and the worse the sustain.
Enter active pickups. They use weak magnets, and place a preamp circuit (usually with EQ circuitry as well) as close as possible to the pickup itself.
So if you mix them, you've got a weak, but boosted, signal, and a somewhat stronger, but unboosted signal coming out at the same time. Balance will be an issue, but you can probably overcome that . The real problem you'll have is impedance.
Audio devices have 'input impedance' and 'output impedance'. Think of these as the way devices talk to each other... if you shout to make yourself lounder (high output), and I'm wearing a hearing aid (low input), the result might get really muddy. When impedances aren't matched, you will use extra power and/or waste some of your signal.... which translates into hot amplifiers and lousy sound.
Your passive pickup will have a high output impedance. Your active pickup probably won't. To get a decent sound, you'll need to add one additional circuit board, called a 'buffer board' to one of the circuits before the signals are combined. That will let you (hopefully) match output impedances between the two pickups, and give you a fighting chance at having a workable solution.
Guitar teacher offering lessons in Plainfield IL
ok so basically its ususally one or the other
